2006-07-10 01:48:29 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Sunlight contains the whole spectrum of light, from the high frequency ultra violet to the low frequency infra-red. Infra red light, in very simple terms, is hot. That's to say, it'll heat things as they hit the surface of the object. If sunlight had no IR light, there wouldn't be any heat on the planet's surface.
2006-07-10 01:51:26 · answer #1 · answered by flammable 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is radiated from the sun to the earth in much the same way a grill heats food. The heat travels in invisible waves.
There are three types of heat transmission. Conduction, Convection and radiation.
Radiation is the only type of heat transmission that can travel through a vacuum. So the earth is heated by the sun by radiation because space is a vacuum.
2006-07-10 12:59:44 · answer #2 · answered by Evil spoon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Heat does need a medium to travel since it is a physical interaction between the molecules that allows it to move. The way the heat gets from the sun to the earth is from the conversion of the intense light (light, being both an electromagnetic wave and a particle at the same time, does travel through space) energy into heat from the interaction of the light and the anything on the earth.
followup: How do you think a microwave works. Similar principle.
2006-07-10 08:57:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No heat gets into the atmosphere of the earth but ray from the sun gets into which heat up the earth by green house effect
2006-07-10 09:32:10 · answer #4 · answered by sans 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sun emits radiation that travels through space until it hits something. In the case of earth, it would be our atmosphere. The air molecules absorb the radiation, which excites the molecules to a higher energy state. However, collisions with other molecules causes them to emit the energy in the form of thermal energy (among other things). That's how energy travels without having to pass through convection.
Before the development of quantum theory, there was the thought that there existed an aether by which energy from the sun passes through space to the earth. With the theory of photons able to travel in a vacuum (such as space), the aether theory is no longer needed.
Hope that helps.
2006-07-10 08:57:08 · answer #5 · answered by Ѕємι~Мαđ ŠçїєŋŧιѕТ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It radiates out and heats the earth.
2006-07-10 08:51:36 · answer #6 · answered by songbird 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
rays of light/energy from the sun is packed into little packages knows as "Photons" these are high energy packets that are thrown to earth in the form of sunlight, and therefore heat. the physics behind this is very deep so if you would like a more indepth answer then please email me.
2006-07-10 08:56:20 · answer #7 · answered by Nish 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The light from the sun is heat, energy, it disperses in all directions. It travels to us at the speed of light 186,000 miles per second or more accurately 186,284 miles per second.
2006-07-10 08:53:36 · answer #8 · answered by Darkmaven 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
heat is a form of energy.and heat comes to our earth in few seconds
and it hasn't need any medium to travel
2006-07-10 08:55:48 · answer #9 · answered by devilspatner 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Radiation, It needs rides with the photons emitted by the sun.
2006-07-10 08:53:50 · answer #10 · answered by genghis41f 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋